Green Bay Packers’ first-half surge stuns Dallas Cowboys in wildcard playoff

Jordan Love threw for three touchdowns, Aaron Jones ran for three more and Darnell Savage returned an interception 64 yards for a score as the Green Bay Packers handed the Dallas Cowboys their first home loss since the 2022 opener in a 48-32 wild-card blowout on Sunday.

Romeo Doubs had a career-high 151 yards receiving a week after being hospitalized with a chest injury as the Packers won Love’s postseason debut after finishing the regular season 6-2 and clinching the final playoff spot from the NFC.

“We came in here thinking we’re going to dominate,” Love said. “A lot of people charged us and we didn’t care.”

Green Bay (10-8) will visit top-seeded San Francisco in the divisional round next weekend.

Dak Prescott threw two interceptions before three nearly meaningless touchdown passes in another playoff flop for the quarterback and the No. 2 seed Cowboys (12-6).

Dallas had won its previous 16 regular-season home games, but now has the most points in a game in the club’s postseason history. The previous high was 38.

The Cowboys, who have not reached an NFC championship since the most recent of their five Super Bowl titles 28 years ago, did not trail by more than eight points at AT&T Stadium this season before falling behind 27-0 in the first half .

The loss will raise questions about the future of Dallas coach Mike McCarthy after the Cowboys lost their playoff opener at home for the second time in three postseasons under the former Green Bay coach.

Dallas is the first team to win at least 12 games in three consecutive playoff seasons without playing a conference title game.

The Packers have never lost in six visits to AT&T Stadium, including the Super Bowl over Pittsburgh during the 2010 season. They now have two playoff wins over the Cowboys after Aaron Rodgers led a 34-31 division victory as Dallas was the top seed of the NFC was in 2016, Prescott’s rookie year.

Those Packers let a 21-3 lead slip away. These Packers, with the successor to the four-time MVP, left little doubt with a 48-16 lead in the fourth quarter before two late Dallas TDs.

Facing the NFL’s fifth-best defense, Green Bay matched their 2010 Super Bowl-winning team for the most points in a playoff game. That was also on the road: a 48-21 win at top-seeded Atlanta in the divisional round.

Doubs, who returned to the Green Bay sideline after his hospital visit before the end of last week’s 17-9 home win over Chicago that secured a playoff spot, had 102 yards at halftime. It was seven more than the second-year player’s previous record.

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Love finished 16 of 21 for 272 yards as the Packers scored touchdowns on six of their first seven offensive possessions in their highest-scoring game since 2014.

One of those was set up by Prescott’s first interception at the Dallas 19-yard line, from Jaire Alexander, after coming in questionable while spraining an ankle during the week.

A 46-yard grab by Doubs early in the second half helped finish off the Cowboys after scoring 10 points either side of the break. Doubs, Luke Musgrave and Dontayvion Wicks had TD catches.

Jones rushed for 118 yards, surpassing the century mark in all four career games against the Cowboys, with nine touchdowns.

The crowd under the retractable roof on a frigid day in the Dallas area was already stone cold silenced when Prescott attempted to throw a slash to top receiver CeeDee Lamb.

Savage, who went without an interception in the regular season for the first time in his five-year career, stepped up and ran untouched to a 27-0 lead with 1:50 to go before halftime.

Prescott finished 41 of 60 for 403 yards, with all three of his touchdowns coming to tight end Jake Ferguson.

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